Is our limited view of ‘Western Liberalism’ the only appropriate stance at an Arts HE?

As teachers at an Arts-focused HE, we often expect our students to have a left-leaning political stance. This includes the false assumption of atheism/agnosticism as being leftist. I grew up in a Hindu household, sharing those beliefs. Over time, I have seen more problems being caused by organised religion, especially in the growing extremism around the world, and have become agnostic (though culturally still Hindu – I at times wear Hindu-Indian outfits and celebrate Hindu festivals, thus Hinduism is my ‘social identity’ [Rekis 2023]). Simultaneously, I recognise the harm caused by the prejudice and violence against certain religions, especially Islam.

In this case of Islam, Crenshaw’s (1989) theory of intersectionality is applicable to most Muslim people as only 8% of Muslims in the UK in 2015 were white (Nye and Ahmad 2015), making Islamophobia a racialised issue. Just as people of colour often cannot ‘pass off’ as the privileged white on the street, so are ‘visible Muslim women’ (Jawad 2022) who adopt a modest dress immediately set apart as distinct, the Other in society. This is made all the more complicated considering the negative connotations associated with the hijab and niqab, to the point of being banned in several countries in Europe (BBC 2018). ‘The concept of modesty applies to both men and women (Quran 24: 30; 24: 31)’ in Islam (Jawad 2022), thus some Muslim men adorn headwear and facial hair – which has led to attacks against them and even Sikhs (Basu 2016). However, visible Muslim women are intersectionally more vulnerable. This is due to the conversations around (Western, white) feminism:

Figure 1 epitomises the false assumption that the more empowered feminist woman takes charge of her body and sexuality and proves this by showing more skin (complexity around showing skin being feminist vs playing into the patriarchal male gaze is also relevant to the recent pop culture controversy around artist Sabrina Carpenter’s album cover [Horton 2025]). Intersectionality is significant in these matters because it underscores that no one group is homogenised and that there lie differing identity factors that affect individual experience. For instance, one’s faith could be a ‘social identity’ (as is my Hindu identity, discussed above) or a ‘worldview’ and thus people’s relationships with their faith can differ (Rekis 2023). This intersectionality and heterogeneity within groups is a view that Singh (2016) emphasises in his classroom, and something I will in the future too.

Appiah (2014) engages in an interesting philosophical discussion of what constitutes as religion. He concludes that our perception of religion is limited, thus the debate of whether religion is good or bad is irrelevant. This is amusing and can be used to widen the scope of what ‘religion’ is in the long term. But when today people are discriminated against due to their religious beliefs/faith, statements such as ‘there isn’t such a thing as religion’ become meaningless. The readings and Workshop discussions have taught me to be more careful and inclusive in my language within the classroom. And that while considering my positionality (Bayeck 2022), I must not suppose that my students will share my religious and/or political stances. As the ‘authority figure’ in the classroom (more can be done to democratise classrooms, which I discuss in my Reflective Report), my aim is to create a welcoming environment where no student feels that they won’t fit the ‘mould’ of an Arts student if they don’t share my views.

References

Appiah, K A (2014) ‘Kwame Anthony Appiah: Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question)’, TED [Online]. YouTube. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY (Accessed 15 July 2025).

Basu, M (2016) ’15 years after 9/11, Sikhs still victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes’, CNN. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/15/us/sikh-hate-crime-victims (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Bayeck, R Y (2022) ‘Positionality: The Interplay of Space, Context and Identity’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, pp 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/16094069221114745 (Accessed 10 July 2025).

BBC (2018) ‘The Islamic veil across Europe’. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13038095 (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Crenshaw, K (1989) ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’, University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), pp 139-167. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1052&context=uclf (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Evans, M (2011) ‘Burkas and Bikinis’. Available at: https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22728118 (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Horton, A (2025) ‘Is the Sabrina Carpenter album art really that offensive?’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/14/sabrina-carpenter-album-art-offensive (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Jawad, H (2022) ‘Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women’, LSE. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/ (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Nye, C and Ahmad, A (2015) ‘Muslims in Britain: What figures tell us’, BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31435929 (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Rekis, J (2023) ‘Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account’, Hypatia, 38, pp 779–800. DOI: 10.1017/hyp.2023.86 (Accessed 16 July 2025).

Singh, S J (2016) ‘Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in Classroom’, Trinity University [Online]. YouTube. 1 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk (Accessed 15 July 2025).

I critically analyse the four videos with a focus on disability and apply the learnings to my teaching practice. I discuss the videos within the emerging themes of intersectionality, positionality, and social model of disability.

Intersectionality

Crenshaw defines ‘intersectionality’ as the phenomenon in which minoritised people are often ‘multiply-burdened’ and whose situations cannot be understood as consequences of ‘discrete sources of discrimination’ (1989, p 140). This can be seen within videos 2: Adepitan’s identity as a Black disabled athlete; 3: Sun Kim’s identity as a deaf artist and a mother; and 4: Brown’s identity as trans, gay, with mental health difficulties. Sun Kim underscores the importance of government support in Germany, which made me consider systemic discrimination. We as a British academic institution often grade student work in written English-language assessments, putting some of our disabled and international students at a disadvantage. However, Awarding Gaps at UAL indicate that disabled UG students receive higher grades than the non-disabled students:

This indicates that Disability Support and ISAs may be helping our disabled students and invites deeper investigation. But the written English-language assessment could be a factor in the Awarding Gaps for UG international students:

In my teaching practice and Assessment Briefs, I emphasise clarity of meaning instead of grammatical perfection [also postcolonial concerns around whose grammar, whose English? (Misra 2020)], even within writing-focused units.

Positionality

Positionality statements are the expression of one’s position in relation to another (Merriam et al 2001, p 411, cited in Bayeck 2022, p 1). Thus, positionality is relative – and in the case of the ‘institutional whiteness’ (Ahmed 2012, p 33, cited in Lukkien et al 2024, p 5) of British academia, the identity being centred is white, cis, hetero, male, non-disabled, wealthy. It thus makes sense that – as a Black woman herself – Crenshaw’s starting point of examining intersectionality was Black women. Her research starts from within, but Crenshaw extends the application of intersectionality to other factors such as class and sexuality (1991, p 1245). This extension is highlighted in videos 2: Adepitan being a man but facing discrimination for being Black and disabled; 3: Sun Kim being an Asian woman – not Black – but facing challenges due to deafness; and 4: Brown clearly expressing his positionality as a trans, gay man with mental health difficulties. He interestingly notes areas of privilege (white, cis male ‘passing’, ‘hidden’ disability), emphasising complexities of identity politics. While there are tensions between positionality statements in classrooms and encouraging open dialogue, communicating positionality can encourage empathy. As a non-disabled person, if I ask my disabled students how I can better support them and am open to learn, perhaps the students would appreciate that intention.

Social Model of Disability

This Model states that disability does not come from within but the organisation of the world makes some of us dis-abled to use it. This concept is exemplified in a video (2008) reimagining the world being made for some disabled people to others’ determinant. The Model can also be seen in videos 1: ‘Course is assessed in a way that doesn’t have me in mind’; and 2: ‘What makes people disabled is not their disability […] it’s society, society that holds us back. It’s that systemic discrimination and oppression.’ Inklusion Guide (Dundas and Farrell 2022) shares recommendations to make physical spaces more accessible, such as having quiet rooms and using particular typefaces (also recommended in UAL Branded templates). In a programme meeting on 9 July, I kept all these ideas in mind to explore assessment forms for different learning needs. For instance, oral presentations may suit students with dyslexia or ADHD, but having written forms may suit those with social anxiety. But we tutors do not want to come from a space of assumptions, and we thus invited a panel of graduates to get their inputs in revalidating our courses.

References

‘A world made for disabilities’ (2008). YouTube. 20 January. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsuKxY_9f_8 (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Adepitan, A and Webborn, N (2020) ‘Nick Webborn interviews Ade Adepitan’, ParalympicsGB Legends [Online]. YouTube. 27 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRjdol_j0c (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Ahmed, S (2012) On Being Included. Duke University Press.

Bayeck, R Y (2022) ‘Positionality: The Interplay of Space, Context and Identity’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods 21, pp 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/16094069221114745.

Brown, C (2023) ‘Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month’ [Online]. YouTube. 13 December. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Crenshaw, K (1989) ‘Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics’, University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), pp 139-167. Available at: https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1052&context=uclf (Accessed 10 July 2025).

” (1991) Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color’, Stanford Law Review, 43(6), pp 1241-1299. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039 (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Dundas, E and Farrell, J (2022) Inklusion Guide. Available at: https://www.inklusionguide.org (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Lukkien, T et al (2024) ‘Addressing the diversity principle–practice gap in Western higher education institutions: A systematic review on intersectionality’, British Educational Research Journal, pp 1-9.

Merriam, S B et al (2011) ‘Power and positionality: Negotiating insider/outsider status within and across cultures’, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(5), pp 405–416. DOI: 10.1080/02601370120490 (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Misra, S (2020) ‘Sigh-lingual: being a multilingual writer in the UK’, Scottish BPOC Writers Network. Available at: http://scottishbpocwritersnetwork.org/sigh-lingual/ (Accessed 10 July 2025).

Sun Kim, C (2023) ‘Christine Sun Kim in ‘Friends & Strangers’ – Season 11 | Art21’ [Online]. YouTube. 1 November. Available at: https://youtu.be/2NpRaEDlLsI (Accessed 10 July 2025).

UAL Awarding Gaps (2025). Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk/dashboard/ActiveDashboards/DashboardPage.aspx?dashboardid=c04b6e35-6d26-4db8-9ea0-5e27d30e3402&dashcontextid=638684775887265547 (Accessed 10 July 2025).

UAL Branded Templates (2025). Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/brand/branded-templates (Accessed 10 July 2025).

My PhD research analysed the postcolonial impact of the British publishing industry upon the Global South, with a focus on India, due to some business practices. I teach on the MA Publishing programme, and I am one of two POC in our overall department of Journalism & Publishing (while I am the only POC on the Publishing course). Coincidentally (or is it?), both of us are interested in decolonising our subjects for our students to enable them to engage with more perspectives and widen their horizons. It is helpful that my colleague also did the PgCert last year, so we are able to have these discussions foregrounded in the Inclusive Practices Unit.

My manager appreciates the expertise I bring and wished for me to apply it in a one-off session with some of our MA students – the ones who volunteered for an extra-curricular project, Decolonising the Library Collection. My manager was awarded some funding for it and brought me on board. While I have spoken to the MA students more generally about my research in one lecture, this was the first time I engaged them in foundational theories of colonialism, imperialism, hegemony, postcolonialism, neocolonialism, and decolonising, applying them to the literature and publishing spheres.

In my Intervention Plan, I will assess the execution of this one-off session using my own experience of delivering the lecture, the feedback from my manager, and the feedback from the students in a short anonymous survey I conducted. I will then examine whether it would be useful to include such a session in a more permanent and sustainable manner within the main teaching so that the entire class can benefit from it as opposed to the one-third that volunteered for this extra-curricular project. I will also discuss whether it is more helpful to have one lecture fully dedicated to postcolonialism and decolonising, or if it is more impactful if we address them during all of our teaching.

References (used in the session)

Ashcroft, B et al (1989) The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-colonial Literatures. London: Routledge.

Altbach, P G and Teferra, D (1998) Publishing and Development: A Book of Readings. Massachusetts: Bellagio Publishing Network.

Batty, D (2020) ‘Only a fifth of UK universities say they are “decolonising’ curriculum”, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/11/only-fifth-of-uk-universities-have-said-they-will-decolonise-curriculum.

Moncrieffe, M et al (2024) The BERA Guide to Decolonising the Curriculum: Equity and Inclusion in Educational Research and Practice. Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/the-bera-guide-to-decolonising-the-curriculum (Accessed 21 July 2025).

Brouillette, S (2007) Postcolonial Writers in the Global Literary Marketplace. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Casanova, P (2004) The World Republic of Letters. Translated by M B DeBevoise. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Chakava, H (1996) Publishing in Africa: One Man’s Perspective. Massachusetts: Bellagio Publishing Network.

Gandhi, L (1998) Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Huggan, G (2001) The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins. London: Routledge.

Muldoon, J (2019) ‘Academics: it’s time to get behind decolonising the curriculum’, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/mar/20/academics-its-time-to-get-behind-decolonising-the-curriculum (Accessed 21 July 2025).

National Education Union (nd) ‘Decolonising Education’. Available at: https://neu.org.uk/advice/equality/race-equality/decolonising-education (Accessed 21 July 2025).

UAL Decolonising Arts Institute (nd) Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute (Accessed 21 July 2025).

UCL (2014) ‘Why is my curriculum white?’ [Online]. YouTube. 11 November. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dscx4h2l-Pk (Accessed 21 July 2025).

Assess and/or give feedback for learning, with a focus on ‘compassionate pedagogy’

Introduction

My LCC Lecturer post is my first full-time academic position. I have taught part-time at other British universities, wherein my work was to supervise and assess undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations. I have consistently received positive comments from my colleagues for my feedback style before and at LCC. Compassionate pedagogy is formally practised in my programme and is encouraged at UAL (Bunting and Hill nd). In this case study, I reflect on ‘compassionate pedagogy’ and the pros and cons I have faced operating within it while providing written feedback.

Evaluation

I have had years of experience receiving and working with nuanced feedback on my creative and academic work – through a master’s in creative writing, being supervised for a PhD, being an editor working with authors, and being an author myself working with editors. My teaching practice is informed by putting myself in my students’ shoes, which isn’t a big leap for me, having been a student myself till recently (2024). This empathy is key in compassionate pedagogy (Waghid 2014, cited in Ahern 2019), combined with a daily motivation to help students (Ahern 2019).

How compassionate pedagogy is practiced, however, can vary. Specifically for feedback on the MA Final Major Projects (FMPs), I have received feedback from colleagues that I should focus on the positives and not on what the student missed from the Assessment Brief; that the feedback should celebrate the students’ development and not rationalise their grade. However, I have been conflicted as – putting myself in students’ shoes – how can students improve if they are not aware of their mistakes? A student can request a meeting for feedback clarification, but most do not avail this. A further complication is that since the FMP is the last unit students submit before graduation, should the focus be on celebrating their student journey as many would not be returning to academia soon or at all (since our MA is a vocational one, training students to join the industry)? These are concerns I also shared during my ROT with Claudia (Misra 2025).

Compassionate pedagogy includes inclusive practices (Bunting and Hill nd) and concerns about the cost of living crisis affecting our students (KCL nd). I have had discussions with my more experienced/senior colleagues about providing our students with a supporting environment while teaching them professional practices that will be required in their careers (discussed by Sors and Bloom 2024).

Moving Forward

The next steps I have planned are to educate myself more on the theory surrounding compassionate pedagogy and consider its benefits and drawbacks within my teaching practice. I will also engage in discussions within my programme this summer in programme meetings/Away Days about the differing ways we perceive compassionate pedagogy. Furthermore, I am inspired by the research that Brooks (2008) conducted at her institution on surveying students on the formative and summative feedback they received. I wish to conduct a student survey within our MA programme to capture student response to the written feedback they receive. This could potentially be my Action-Research Project in the PgCert (UAL nd).

I wish to encourage my students and celebrate their developments while balancing that with providing them constructive feedback so that they can continue improving. With my planned actions, my aim is to improve my written feedback style within compassionate pedagogical practices.

References

Ahern, S (2019) ‘Compassionate Pedagogy in Practice’, UCL. Available at: https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/digital-education/2019/07/03/compassionate-pedagogy-in-practice/ (Accessed 18 March 2025).

Brooks, K (2008) ‘”Could do Better?”: students’ critique of written feedback’. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/could-do-better-students-critique-written-feedback (Accessed 18 March 2025).

Bunting and Hill (nd) ‘Belonging Through Compassion’, UAL. Available at: https://belongingthroughcompassion.myblog.arts.ac.uk (Accessed 18 March 2025).

KCL (nd) ‘Breaking point: the cost of living crisis in London and what can be done about it’. Available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/research/report-breaking-point-cost-of-living-crisis-in-london-and-what-can-be-done-about-it (Accessed 18 March 2025).

Misra, S (2025) ‘Review of Teaching: Observation of my teaching by a peer’, Sonali’s PgCert. Available at: https://studyon.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/03/17/review-of-teaching-observation-of-my-teaching-by-a-peer/ (Accessed 18 March 2025).

UAL (nd) ‘PgCert Academic Practice’. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/professional-development/pgcert-academic-practice (Accessed 18 March 2025).

Waghid, Y (2014) Pedagogy Out of Bounds: Untamed Variations of Democratic Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA Magazine Journalism & Publishing Year 2 Option Unit Assessment Brief

Size of student group: 11

Observer: Dr Rachel Marsden

Observee: Dr Sonali Misra

 

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

This artefact is the Assessment Brief for an Option Unit that I created and executed for the first time in 2024–2025. I was given the Brief template that was being used for other Option Units. I could not change the wording of the Learning Objectives, but I did have to create the Evidencing of the Learning Objectives as well as what the Unit’s assessment submission was and what elements it should include.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

This was the first time I taught this group as I did not teach them in their first year. I created this Brief without having much engaged with the student group, apart from one information session about upcoming units in Year 2, wherein I introduced this new Option Unit.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

The ones detailed in the Brief (I have attached with the email).

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

For the Unit Assessment, the students had to submit 1500 words of creative magazine writing, 1000 words of critical evaluation of that creative magazine writing, a Bibliography and a Style Sheet.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

1. I adapted the style of evidencing from the other Option Unit (that brief has been attached as reference). While marking the assessment, I found it a bit complicated to do the dot grades as the criteria are often repeated across different Learning Objectives.
2. I had some international students in class whose first language is not English. I dedicated a lecture to editing and grammar basics, as well as signposted them to other resources. I also edited their work through 2 workshops/crits sessions where the students submitted 500–750 words of their writing using the learnings from the classes. However, I was unsure how to fairly assess their writing and editing skills – especially when ‘grammar’ is not mentioned in the Brief.
3. 1500 words of the assessment was dedicated to creative magazine writing and 1000 words to critical evaluation. Yet, I felt like the Brief paid more weight to the critical evaluation and their research. Also, Realisation is not one of the criteria, so I was unsure how to assess the quality of their creative magazine writing.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

As this is not a review of teaching but of materials, they needn’t be informed.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

1. The structuring of the Brief and the evidencing of the Learning Objectives
2. Whether things can be amended so that more attention is paid to their creative magazine writing
3. How to approach students’ diverse English-language proficiencies in a class aimed at writing in the English language for the purpose of publishing it. Won’t some students have advantage over the others, and won’t this be disheartening to some?

How will feedback be exchanged?

Via email

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Thank you for sending over the unit assignment briefs (PU002879 and PU002880) for review. For the ROT, only the PU002880 brief was selected and reviewed. Below are some reflections, suggestions and prompts provided as questions to help think about different aspects of the unit brief – an opening up of possibilities and ideas. Note, if updates are made to the unit brief, these might need to be considered as formal modifications so please discuss within your team. I have been mindful and respectful of the fact you are working with a legacy brief (structure) and have a feeling it likely uses the approach referenced in the LCC Staff Guide to Unit Assessment and Project Briefs. Therefore, I wonder if any of the ‘Templates and Useful Information’ section might be useful here? 

On first look, page 1 includes a range of different font sizes between the title, subtitles and main information. It can be difficult to read and delineate between the 9 sections. I wonder if more clear subtitling, or background colour variations, would make a difference? Is there an order to the reading of the 9 areas? Also, the summative deadline seems to get lost in the table and doesn’t stand out – what do you think? This makes me think about the Dyslexia friendly style guide, which might provide some pointers on readable fonts, headings, structures, colours, layout and more (there is also a PDF guide here). I’ve also provided some further links below about creating accessible digital content and documents that might inform the brief:

• Create accessible digital content
• Creating accessible documents

The ‘Assignment Title’ states project and 1,000 word evaluation (p. 1), which is helpfully/ consistently reiterated in the ‘Your assignment’ area (p. 2). In the ‘Project brief’ section (p. 2), ‘portfolio’ is stated, though not earlier on in the brief – is the portfolio familiar to participants? Could the ‘Creative writing’ and ‘Critical evaluation’ sections go into more practical step-by-step depth to describe more of the key elements? I wonder if terms such as ‘critical’ and ‘descriptive’ need a definition? This makes me think about the ALDinHE ‘Instruction words in essay questions’ document (and how UAL doesn’t have such a document that I can find). Therefore, is there an opportunity to provide information on academic skills in the guidance? 

It is interesting to hear you (in the ROT form) wrestle with the distribution and understanding of the learning outcomes and their weighting – when this is a holistic assessment – which makes me think, if you’re wrestling to sense-make then it is likely participants will be too. It is often preferred that only one criterion is set against a learning outcome rather than two combined as it can make the learning outcomes harder to interpret and assess. I think the (your) evidence of the learning outcomes are well grounded and start to make linkages to the practical outputs expected – what are some of the practical ways the learning outcomes and criteria will be shown? For ‘Knowledge’ is this theory, literature, books, journals(?)…in addition engagement with our intended platforms and readership. In addition, I wonder if there’s an in-session opportunity to map and work with the assessment criteria and learning outcomes to understand them in practice, which could be periodically revisited throughout the unit? Furthermore, is there further scaffolding you could state in the unit brief to support students in the development of their writing and academic skills. For example, links to academic support online, or library/ Academic Support sessions. This also draws me to UAL’s work on: 

• Designing Inclusive Assessment
• Scaffolding critical engagement with texts

Some additional notes include:

• Could PCSAs also be stated and linked to in conjunction with ISAs? 
• Is it helpful to provide the names/ email addresses for the teaching team specific to the unit (this might vary hence the general email address)?
• ‘How you will receive feedback’ doesn’t actually state what format – In writing? Verbally? 
• Are there any formative opportunities to receive feedback or is this delivered via crits (as mentioned earlier in the ROT form)?
• Might a link to information on applying for additional time/ Extenuating Circumstances be provided on page 1 and/ or on page 4 under ‘Assessment Guidance’ (similarly PCSAs)?
• Under ‘costs associated,’ might digital equity be considered? For example, where might participants borrow laptops/ access software? 

Overall, I want to reassure you this is a good unit brief Sonali. I wonder if (some of) the above might serve as an opportunity and give agency to open up conversations within your team about writing assignment briefs? Feel free to select/ choose areas to respond to in ‘Part Three’ of the ROT form below (rather than responding to it all) and I hope it’s been helpful.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thank you for your detailed comments, Rachel. You have touched upon bits that I didn’t even realise I could question. As a result, I feel like this ROT has opened up a whole new world (or maybe a Pandora’s Box – depending on how my team reacts!).

Many of the points you have picked up on would need to be discussed with my team. I have not seen the Assessment Briefs of other programmes, and this is precisely the template that my Programme uses. Specifically, I mean: the variation in typefaces on page 1; the exclusion of PCSAs; the exclusion of digital equity in costs associated, etc. But these are all valid points and things I can discuss with my team so we are more inclusive in our Briefs.

While I end up with a grade that makes sense holistically (it has not been a problem while second-marking/reviewing grades), I think my brain still tries to create a mathematical equation for the dot grades to end up with an overall grade. My worry is that if I am asked why a student has received B and another B-, I should have a precise rationale for it. That is something I can work on to stay truer to the nature of holistic grading, as you have picked up yourself in your comments.

I do discuss the differences between ‘critical’ and ‘descriptive’ in class and on the lecture slides that I upload on Moodle, but I take your point that this can be clarified in the Brief itself. Similarly, I signpost the students to Academic and Library Support in class and on the lecture slides uploaded on Moodle, but this can be included as a helpful addition in the Brief too. I have raised my doubts regarding a Learning Outcome having more than one dot grade criterion with the Course Lead, and it is something we will consider in the course revalidation.

I am curious about the one query (quite a large issue and may not be apt for this ROT, I realise!) that I raised in ROT Part One, ie, my doubt about teaching and assessing an English writing-based unit to students whose first language is not English. If you have some time, it would be great to get your perspective on this too.

This ROT was a lot of valuable food for thought, so thank you again for your comments and for all the resources you have linked here. I will organise your feedback into what I can do to improve the Brief specifically for this Unit vs changes our programme can make in all our Briefs (as they follow the same style) to continue maintaining consistency but also be clearer and more inclusive. I can then take points from the latter to a programme meeting/Away Day to hopefully enact some change.

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: MA Publishing Final Major Project feedback

Size of student group: 10

Observer: Claudia Catzeflis

Observee: Sonali Misra

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

This is the Final Major Project (FMP) – worth the entirety of the degree grade – of the MA Publishing cohort. I have included the anonymised students I supervised and first-marked at the top and the students I second-marked at the bottom of the attached spreadsheet (also mentioned within the feedback). We were asked to limit our feedback as first markers to about 400–450 words and as second markers to about 250–300 words (I tend to go overboard).

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

I taught this group as a Lecturer in a few different units from when I joined UAL in January 2024 till their in-person classes went on to May 2024. Then I supervised 6 of them for their FMP.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

The ones detailed in the Assessment Brief (I have attached to the email).

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Their FMPs could be a dissertation, an artefact (created as a result of research), or a business strategy (created as a result of research). Each form had different word limits (mentioned in attached Brief). All students were expected to conduct primary research.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

NA

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

As this is not a review of teaching but of materials, they needn’t be informed.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

1. Clarity of meaning and specificity
2. Balance of positives and areas for improvement
3. Overall messaging is to support and encourage students and not sound like ‘they didn’t do XYZ, which is why grade has been lowered’
4. The success in mapping the dot grades against the Learning Objectives in the Brief
5. Ways to have depth in feedback but reduce word length (as I tend to go over the norm)

How will feedback be exchanged?

Via email and MS Teams call

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Thank you with sharing with me some of your final project assessments and taking time to talk to me through your course units and the final project. This was helpful as it gave me insight into your course and how each unit leads up to the final project.

After we met, I read the learning outcomes and 3 assessments A, B C band in detail and took time to reflect on these and our meeting.  

From my perspective, your assessments are clearly written, read well and are full of detailed constructive feedback. You make many direct references to individual aspects of the work and give both positive and constructive feedback through all the assessments. 

The language is rich giving depth to the feedback, supporting the reader to understand your meanings, as well as being not overly complicated or academic supporting it to be inclusive.

The feedback aligns well with many of the learning outcomes, particularly around methodological choices, research execution, and engagement with secondary sources.

When we met you talked about how as this was the student’s final assessment feedback, and they would not have a chance to improve this project while on the course, you were required to not give direct suggestions on how to improve on this work. I wondered how you felt about this being a requirement and how this creates if any barriers to you giving full and meaningful feedback?

The feedback you give to student is positive and seems thorough. I wondered if starting or ending with an overview summary would give each student an encouraging takeaway to focus on, a way to reflect on their individual strengths and positive development of their own creative practices?

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Claudia and I met virtually on an MS Teams call to discuss our review for each other’s teaching and shared our thoughts on these forms over email. I appreciated this chance to learn how different departments run their assessments and feedback. It was interesting to learn that in Claudia’s programme, students are just given their final degree (2:1, Distinction, etc) and they don’t receive written feedback and grade.

I thank Claudia for her attention and engagement with my assessment-related queries. We began my ROT with me providing an overview to the MA Publishing degree, where the Final Major Project (FMP) sits within it, what the FMP outputs can look like, and how we approach the assessment. But I asked her to do a ‘blind reading’ [that term seems problematic – but unsure what to use instead!] of the feedback so that she can react the way a student may and doesn’t have added context to refer to. The student only has my feedback words to go on, unless they reach out for further clarification. And I wanted feedback on those words from Claudia.

Her review was mostly positive, as she has indicated here as well, which I appreciate. She felt it is important for us teaching staff to empathise with students’ projects, no matter what our feelings are about the topic, which she felt I accomplished. She had some more detailed feedback for me in some of the phrases I tend to use, such as ‘push it further’. I take this point, as I can aim to be more unambiguous in these instances. I know we – especially when we are marking a big number of papers in a short time – start building a set of phrases we repeatedly use. I can be more self-aware of this and ensure I prioritise clarity over convenience.

I also take her point that if I start and close with an overview of the feedback, it will give the students a better grasp of the grade and its rationale as well as any action points they can take and celebrate their development. I will keep this in mind in the future. This also relates to the question that Claudia has posed for me above, whether the instruction I received from my superiors posed some barriers in giving meaningful feedback. This is a thought I return to often, especially with FMPs, and falls within the questions I have about ‘compassionate pedagogy’. This is a topic I explore further in Case Study 3 (Misra 2025).

References

Misra, S (2025) ‘Case Study 3’, Sonali’s PgCert. Available at: https://studyon.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2025/03/18/case-study-3/ (Accessed 18 March 2025).

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

 [copied from Claudia’s ROT form]

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA 1 Textile Design welcome presentations

Size of student group: 88

Observer: Sonali Misra 

Observee: Claudia Catzeflis

 

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

The presentation studying at shown to BA 1 Textile Design students as they arrive on the course. The first week it is important to orientate the group to the BA, Chelsea, and UAL. Many students are new to London, this year we had a large international group, 70% + of international students. 

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

At this point I have only just met all the student’s week 1.  Now I have known them for 4 months. The group this year is 88 students but some years it can be as high as 110.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

This is not a project brief, or a session tied to a project brief but within this week we do brief Unit 1 project: Introduction to Textile Design, so these learning outcomes could be good to keep in mind.                                                                                       

LO1 Evidence of understanding studentship through engagement and participation with the course, your student colleagues and the study material and resources introduced (Enquiry) 

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

We ran a making activity as an ice breaker alongside these presentations, this was written by Sicgmone Kludge and was successful, fun and engaging.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Language and cultural barrier, overload of content, measuring the success and effectiveness of the presentation. 

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

  NA. Not a review of teaching live

What would you particularly like feedback on?

1. thinking about how inclusive the information is.
2. Seeing information for the first time, what potential difficulties could there be in understanding and interpreting the information
3. How might we develop into next year, considering cohort has gone from 40% to 70% internation students. 
4. Open discussion 

How will feedback be exchanged?

During our online meeting, in discussion and via email through feedback on the ROT form.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

[Claudia chose her orientation slides for the ROT. She talked me through them, so we did not mimic a classroom setting. We exchanged feedback verbally on an MS Teams call. The following are the points that I shared with her verbally and then typed up in her form. I realise that they are not 500-words long, but I did not have much more to say about the material.]

There is a lot of essential material in the orientation presentation. I appreciate the approach to the London Padlet especially – it is a great way to welcome students to the city and give them some guidance on how to explore it.

I thought the presentation would take longer as it includes a lot of information, but Claudia mentioned it takes about 20 to 30 minutes. The content would be easier to absorb for the students I felt if it could be broken up with some ice-breakers or other activities. Some of these activities could be aligned to the theme being discussed in the orientation slides too. The activities could also involve students moving across the room and learning more about their peers, the space, and their tutors.

During the talk-through, Claudia mentioned – through her own realisation – that some of the slides could be better organised so that thematically they sit together. I agreed with this point.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

I found the experience of peer observation interesting, through process of sharing my practice, and talking through an aspect of my role with a lecturer from another course. It gave me the time to consider this aspect of my role and presenting to a peer created a reflective moment that enabled to me view my own practice more from the outside/ as a viewer.

The feedback was given within the meeting, as well written feedback. Sonali suggested using my welcome talk as the foundation for a workshop day, that would be broken up with icebreakers to make the information less overwhelming/ all in one go. It was a good idea to align some of the activities with icebreakers or other activities, this I feel would support the students to engage with the material in a fun, active and social way. It is important that the start of the course is active and focused on peer interaction, so this fits well.

Through this process I saw the benefit of timing myself on presentation/ being more aware of timing with PowerPoints.

I plan to expand to further develop ideas on from our discussion to take into planning meeting with my course leader and other involved in planning and delivering content to BATD1 at the start of their BA. I will also gather research on effective icebreaking activities from other staff member and from other year 1 leaders across CCW.

Plan for and support student learning, with a focus on teaching an international classroom

Introduction

I designed and taught a brand-new Option Unit for BA Year 2 in 2024. The Unit teaches creative writing theories and applies them to journalistic writing. I did my schooling in India. In my board system, we were not taught any writing theories. For this Unit, I compiled a series of useful writing theories that I learnt through online writing courses and a creative writing master’s degree in the UK.

Recently, I read through students’ Unit feedback. It was mostly positive. One student mentioned that they had learnt some of the writing theories in GCSE English and found that content repetitive. In this case study, I examine how I can improve the Unit content to cater to a full classroom’s needs.

Evaluation

English at GCSE level is compulsory for students in England (BBC nd). This usually comprises English Language and Literature and test students’ writing skills. Thus, a student highly engaged with this part of their GCSE education can be expected to be aware of some writing theories. However, UAL includes international students and English is taught differently across schooling systems in other countries. Our students come to University with varying knowledge bases and interests. Our goal must be to teach for the median – the majority group of students sitting at the middle in terms of difficulty/complexity of teaching material. Simultaneously, we must ensure that we provide safe space and opportunities for students on either end of the spectrum to clarify their doubts and be engaged and challenged. The question arises – how to practically do this?

Moving Forward

I cannot assume knowledge in my students, and each cohort will come to the Unit with different knowledge bases and experience. Thus, to customise the teaching material and understand which theories require more learning time as per each cohort, I will utilise an early formative assessment in the first class. This is based on suggestions on ‘Assessing Prior Knowledge & Addressing Learning Gaps’ (nd) by Cornell University’s Centre for Teaching Innovation. This formative assessment can be a short survey in which I place the names of writing theories/ideas and ask students to tick the ones that they are familiar with. I will assure the students that they are not expected to know any and that the purpose of the Unit is to introduce them to these concepts, so they do not feel judged or embarrassed.

The caveat remains that even if one student does not tick a certain concept, I must introduce it to the class and engage in that topic. I cannot brush over foundational knowledge that is required to apply the theories to journalistic writing. What the survey can help me with is learning the prior knowledge the students have and distributing my time on foundational vs more complex ideas accordingly. However, in any situation where one educator is teaching more than one student, the content becomes broader to cater to wider audiences and there may be a few students who find the foundational knowledge repetitive. Formative assessments, class activities, and 1-on-1 time can ensure that each student feels their needs are being catered to.

This Unit will begin again in Autumn 2025, wherein I will employ this survey as a formative assessment. I will also share the thinking behind the survey as well as any repetition the students may find in the Unit to maintain transparency with my students and so that they can better understand the dynamics of teaching an international classroom.

References

BBC (nd) ‘GCSE options in England: Everything you need to know about choosing your GCSE subjects’, BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrjh92p#zv9vg7h (Accessed 12 March 2025).

Cornell University’s Centre for Teaching Innovation (nd) ‘Assessing Prior Knowledge & Addressing Learning Gaps’. Available at: https://teaching.cornell.edu/teaching-resources/assessment-evaluation/assessing-prior-knowledge-addressing-learning-gaps (Accessed 13 March 2025).

This week I read Addison’s ‘Doubting Learning Outcomes in Higher Education Contexts: from Performativity towards Emergence and Negotiation’ (2014). The article critically analyses the benefits and disadvantages of Learning Outcomes (LOs) in an organised manner. Addison uses themes of accountability, inclusive principles, curriculum design, learning, specifics around art and design, and beginning and developing teaching to analyse LOs. I mostly agree with the theory and principles shared in the article, and I see its value in the case of reimagining higher education systems. Where I hesitate is idealism versus practicalities.

I have found that in my research and practices, I tend to be a pragmatist. I believe in the power of collective action and I hope for idealistic futures. But I am also a cynic and don’t believe that meaningful change is possible when it comes to large-scale structures and systems – at least in my lifetime. I still remember the hope so many of us felt in India during the rise of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2011 (Biswas 2013) by activists in an anti-corruption movement. For the first time in my life, I witnessed people from my generation – in their teens and early 2os – donning the symbols of the movement, on the streets, campaigning against corruption. Fast-forward (through a tumultuous, complex decade-and-a-half) to today, and the AAP leader and former Chief Minister of Delhi has been caught in corruption scandals himself (Choahan 2025).

Even in my research, which examines the postcolonial impact of British book publishing practices on the ‘Global South’, I offer pragmatist solutions – steps we can take today in the systems that already exist – to improve the situation. My fear is that if we keep rigid about widespread structural change, our idealism may stop us from helping people who are impacted today. Addison critiques the LOs for their ‘neoliberal “performativity”‘ (2014, p 315). One could argue that UAL’s policies around social, racial and climate justice can fall into this ‘performativity’ – but I am glad that these social principles are being embedded into organisational policy. Whether intentions are sincere or ‘performative’ at different stages of funding, hiring, curriculum design, or teaching, emphasis is being laid on social justice, so staff is being made to tick that box in their work. Social justice is already core to my research, practice and teaching, and the changes to LOs and Assessment Briefs make it easier for me to incorporate my research and knowledge on social justice into my teaching. For others, it may be more of an ask. While we can question the authenticity of their changes to meet UAL’s social justice principles, we can admit that including teaching and assessments on social justice are creating an environment for our students to consider these debates and become more critical thinkers and practitioners.

I think back to the quote we discussed in Workshop 2A by Paulo Freire: ‘Education does not change the world. Education changes people. People change the world.’ There are those who campaign for change on the streets, and some of these people are our colleagues. Their contribution is valid and needed for a better future. But, as Freire says, perhaps the primary role of the teacher is to create change in the classroom so that our students can go out into the world and enact societal change.

References

Addison, N (2014) ‘Doubting Learning Outcomes in Higher Education Contexts: from Performativity towards Emergence and Negotiation’. John Wiley & Sons, pp 313-325.

Biswas, S (2013) ‘A spectacular debut by a new Indian party’, BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25296412 (Accessed 11 March 2025).

Choahan, N (2025). ‘India’s “anti-corruption champion” loses Delhi election as $6m reno of official residence surfaces’, ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-13/india-anti-corruption-champion-arvind-kejriwal-loses-delhi-votes/104917860 (Accessed 11 March 2025).

I was assigned the chapter ‘Using Things’ by Ahmed (2019) this week. It made for an interesting read, but I struggled to connect it to teaching practices. I wondered that if I continued reading the book (which I may do at some point as I found the writing poetic in spots), it would make questioning the different facets of ‘use’ more clearly applicable to my teaching practice.

Although I have completed a PhD and am proud of my research skills and output, I still feel like an imposter at times with academics who use ‘academic speak’. I found this chapter to fall within that realm, and for a moment I hesitated whether I should be frank with my workshop group about my probably missing the point of the reading. I have appreciated others’ honesty in the group in asking questions or speaking up when they don’t understand something, which has been encouraging. So, I summarised the reading for my workshop group – in how Ahmed examines ‘use’, ‘in use’, ‘out of use’, and ‘unused’, among other aspects of ‘use’ – and clarified that I didn’t know how to apply it to our teaching practice. Of course, all I needed was a little prompt – a push, another perspective – and everything fell into place. A workshop peer mentioned how they inferred this reading with regards to the ‘usefulness’ of arts degrees – a never-ending debate. This prompted the rest of us to share our experiences of pursuing arts degrees, the kinds of reactions we received from our families and communities, whether we work in the same field as our degrees or how we are applying our degrees to our current careers, and of course the Tory government’s ‘Reskill’ ads (Bakare 2020).

It was interesting to learn from others’ experiences, since we had a mixed group comprising a library staff member, technicians, and lecturers. One of them works on the sculpture degrees, and is thus fine-arts focused. For herself and her students, it would be a much larger fight to ‘justify’ the usefulness of their degrees and careers. This is especially frustrating since it seemed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, people began to truly appreciate the need for the arts, as Bradbury et al’s (2021) research shows. In my case, I teach on a vocational degree, with many units across both the BA and MA programmes focused on employability. Our students join the course with the expectation of graduating with skills and knowledge that would secure them a job in the media industry.

These discussions of ‘use’ reaffirm the unfortunate dangers that arts education is still in. This discussion helped me better appreciate the design of the degrees I teach on, and I have since been more active to share employability sessions happening at LCC with my students. While I agree with the significance of this more ‘practical’ knowledge, my teaching aim is to balance it with the philosophical, ethical and critical discussions that one can usually only engage in academic contexts. Our students should have the chance to expand themselves in different directions, and our role is to provide them with those tools.

References

Ahmed, S (2019) ‘Using Things’, What’s the Use?: On the Uses of Use. Duke University Press, pp 21-67. Available at: http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=5969504 (Accessed 11 February 2025).

Bakare, L (2020) ‘Government scraps ballet dancer reskilling ad criticised as “crass”‘, The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/12/ballet-dancer-could-reskill-with-job-in-cyber-security-suggests-uk-government-ad (Accessed 11 March 2025).

Bradbury et al (2021) ‘The Role of the Arts during the COVID-19 Pandemic’. Available at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/UCL_Role_of_the_Arts_during_COVID_13012022_0.pdf (Accessed 11 March 2025).